PINBALL WIZARD

Text:  John 9:1-41

Theme:  "Pinball Wizard"

4th Sunday in Lent

March 30, 2014

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵ Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

¹⁷ Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.¹⁹ “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

²⁰ “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹ But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

²⁵ He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

²⁸ Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

³⁰ The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹ Jesus said,^[a] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Back in college days, we played ping-pong and shot pool at the student union.  On Friday afternoons, at various fraternity houses, we played foosball.  In high school the big thing, at least where I grew up, was pinball.  Right next to the Alco department store was a pizza restaurant and a movie theater.  In the hallway that connected the two was a row of pinball machines.  There we would stand -- "loiter" is probably a better word -- waiting our turn to play.  Of course, one of the hit songs back then was "Pinball Wizard" by the rock band, The Who.  Elton John also had his own rendition of the piece.

Ever since I was a young boy I played the silver ball --

from Soho down to Brighton, I must have played them all.

But I ain't seen nothing like him in any amusement hall.

That deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball.

To be deaf means that you cannot hear.  To be dumb means that you cannot speak.  The man featured prominently in today's Gospel is not deaf; he can hear.  Neither is he dumb; he can speak.  But he is blind.  He cannot see.  In fact, he was born that way; he was congenitally blind.

Years ago as a chaplain, I was assigned to the 6th floor at Children's Medical Center in Dallas.  That was where they treated young children suffering from cystic fibrosis.  Depending on the condition of their lungs, they would come to the hospital for treatment that usually ran a day or two.  One day, making rounds, I dropped in on a patient:  a teenager.  We got to talking, and I asked:  "What's it like to have cystic fibrosis?"  The patient replied:  "What's it like NOT to have it?  I don't know what it's like NOT to have it."  Cystic fibrosis, that progressive disease that strikes people down in the prime of their lives, was the "normal" for this person.

I suspect the man born blind would give the same answer:  "What's it like to be congenitally blind?"  "What's it like NOT to be congenitally blind?  I don't know what it's like NOT to be this way.  I've never seen light, or a sunrise, or a sunset.  My imagination is stunted because I cannot picture anything in my mind.  Why?  Because I haven't seen it -- ever; I have no point of reference."

But he could hear and he could speak.  Blind?  Yes.  But that doesn't mean that he wasn't aware. His condition forced him to adapt. 

Jesus and His disciples were walking along one day.  They see this blind man who could not see them.  There he is by the side of the road.  Curiosity gets the better of the disciples, and they ask Jesus:  "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Who was it that sinned and, thus, caused that mudslide in Seattle?  Who was it that sinned, on that Malaysian Airline flight, and caused it to disappear and reportedly crash in the Indian Ocean?  There is a thought, ancient and still somewhat persistent, that hold that bad things (illnesses, tragedies, deaths, what have you) are divine retribution -- punishments, if you will -- for sin. 

Jesus puts this thought to rest.  He says:  "Neither this man or his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."  Think of it!  God can have good use of a blind beggar.  To everyone else, he is a man to avoid or to feel sorry for from a distance.  But God isn't "everyone else."  God is God, and, as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: 
"...God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."

One of the things I love about being a follower of Jesus is that it's so messy, so dirty, so gritty, so real, so incarnational.  I don't see Christianity as another religion among many.  I see it as a way -- a way that at times includes means such as water, bread, wine, spit and saliva, dirt and mud. 

Jesus literally takes matter into his own hands.  He takes the initiative.  He spits on the ground.  He makes mud with the saliva.  And it is that crude, revolting paste, that means of grace,  that he smears on the blind man's eyes.   I was told, and perhaps you've been told as well, that "Cleanliness is next to godliness."   Here, cleanliness is not that important.  What is important is that the works of God be made known through this man. 

What an awful, pathetic sight!  Insult is added to injury.  The poor blind man's eyes and face are lathered and slathered with spit and mud. Get this whacked out rabbi away from this unfortunate soul.  For heaven's sake, hand him some soap and water and a towel.  Jesus says:  "Go wash in the pool of Siloam."  He didn't see Jesus, but he certainly heard him.  The man went.  He washed.  He came back.  There was no spit and mud; it was cleansed away -- and the blindness right along with it.  He could see for the first time.  

He had never seen a thing  his entire life, but now he could.  You've heard the leaves rustle, but now you see the tree.  You hear the water ripple, but now you see the river.  You know what it tastes like, but now you see the bread in your own hands -- hands that you now see, too, for the first time.  This isn't even to speak of colors and shapes and dimensions.  He saw, for the first time, what he could not even begin to imagine.  Who could not marvel at this man or, at least, be a half a bit interested in what he had to say?  What a perspective he would bring!

The man's neighbors don't appear to care at all about that.  They're not even sure it is him.  They engage him; they want to find out who did this to him.  They're not curious about the blessing and how incredible it was for the once blind man.  They want only to know what happened; they want an explanation.  Sadly, that's what we so often want:  an explanation.  In some ways, we've lost the ability to be moved by mystery, to be in awe, to marvel, to rejoice, to celebrate our own good fortune or someone else's.  Instead, we want some other thing called an explanation. 

Point by point, the man explained exactly what happened.  Still, that wasn't enough.  They brought the man to the Pharisees.  Again, he explains what Jesus had done for him.  The Pharisees, the purveyors of religion, did not see in Jesus a cause for rejoicing.  No, Jesus was the proverbial burr in their saddle -- a threat to their religion.  So if they could trip him up in any way, they were going to do it.

He healed someone on the Sabbath?  Why, no one can work on the Sabbath. Therefore, this man is not from God; he is a sinner.  Case closed.   They even went to  badger the poor man's parents.  "Is this man your son?  Was he born blind?"  "Ask him yourselves," the parents replied.  "He is of age," they said with fear in their voices.

With the second round of questioning, the man who had received his sight had had enough with this religious harassment.  He tells them again that it was Jesus.  The Pharisees do not even know where Jesus came from.  The man who washed away the spit and mud said to them:  “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

In other words, they kicked him out of the synagogue; they gave him the boot. 

As Judy Collins sings in "Both Sides Now":  "Something's lost and something's gained in living every day."

The man lost his religion.  But he gained his sight, and he gained his Lord.  "Lord, I believe," he says to Jesus.  Leaving religion behind, He became a follower of Jesus and journeyed on with him to cross, to crown, to never-ending victory.  You might spot him in heaven playing pinball. 

Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind but now I see.

Amen.